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Sunday, June 5, 2011

BOOK SUNDAY

AN INTERVIEW WITH DEBRA SWIFT, AUTHOR,

"The Lady's Slipper"

1.What aspects of being an author do you most enjoy?

I love the research aspect of my books. There’s nothing better than a good excuse to visit old buildings, archives, museums and antique markets. I also love the beginnings of a new book when all possibilities are open to me.

2.What aspects of being an author do you least enjoy?

I suppose trying to market or promote the books. I am not a natural “seller” so I always find that aspect hard. I’d rather be writing or researching, or poking round ancient sites.

3. What moment as an author have you experienced that you are likely to remember 20 years from now (good or bad)?

I think the arrival of my first book in its gorgeous hardback will stand out as a moment for me. Unpacking the box and drawing back the brown paper to see the lovely cover with my name on it. I put it on the shelf next to books by other excellent and inspiring writers, and I just looked at it on that first day over and over!

How many hours a week do you spend writing? I write every morning five days a week. The rest of the day is reserved for my other job and for research.(And for things like doing the washing, going to the shops etc!)

How much research do you do? I find research inspirational, and it often prompts story ideas as well as being essential to get a sense of the age – so I do a lot. I have a period of general research before I begin to write, then after the first draft I go into a more intensive phase where I find out much more detail about the scenarios I have created in the book. There are a lot of re-writes at this stage whilst I try to blend historical accuracy with the plot. For example I didn’t know when I began The Lady’s Slipper there would be a scene on board ship, and I knew zilch aboutships – so a whole new adventure of Maritime museums and looking at archives began.

6. Tell us about your latest book.

The book that’s out now is about an artist who wants to paint and preserve a rare orchid, The Lady’s Slipper of the book’s title. It grows on someone else’s land, so she steals it, thus setting in motion a train of events leading to murder and exile, and leads her also ultimately to love and a new life.

7.How long did it take to write?

The book was two years in the making – about eighteen months in writing and researching, and six months in the editing. It was a brilliant moment when I first saw the whole thing clunk out of my printer at home, and saw I had actually written a book!

8.What was your inspiration?

The novel was inspired by the English orchid itself which was reduced to a single specimen when I began the book. It was part of a species recovery programme which has been a success, and now to my great delight, the lady’s slipper is flourishing in selected fragile sites in the wild. It is still monitored though, because it attracted orchid thieves a few years ago. Now its main danger is slugs and deer!

9.If you could spend one week with one of your characters who would you choose?What would you do?

I would love to spend a week with Stephen Fisk, the young man in the book who eventually finds the courage to stand up to his father for his principles, and what he believes in. I would love to spend a week with him at his converted English manor house, The Fieldings, to see how he has used his father’s legacy for his own ideals.

10.What has surprised you the most about your experience of being published?

How long it all takes! I wrote the book in 2007-8, found a publisher in 2009, and it did not come to the shelves until late last year, by which time I had written a second. But also the biggest surprise is that I have been mostly ecstatic, occasionally horrified and sometimes plain baffled by reader’s reactions to the book. But I love to hear from different readers, so it has been great.

11.How much social networking are you into?

I have a blog – www.deborahswift.blogspot.com, and The Lady’s Slipper has a Facebook page. I try not to get too sucked into social networking, because too much of it eats away at my writing time, but I always have time to talk about my books to readers.

12.Who is your favorite author?Favorite book?

Difficult! I’m a bookaholic! But off the top of my head - I enjoy work by historical novelists CJ Sansom, Tracy Chevalier, Philippa Gregory and Geraldine Brooks to name but a few. My favourite books (I can’t only choose one!) are “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier, “A Fine Balance” by Rohinton Mistry and “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant.

2 comments:

Blogger been blocking me but maybe this will go through. Very nice book interview. I haven't much talent for writing, but the research would interest me very much. Who wouldn't love to delve into museums and archives and such, and then be able to say "ah, yes, I'm doing research for a book I'm writing." The actual coming together of the story is a miracle to me.

I remember going to Anne Rice's house in New Orleans. We were told that she was upstairs writing and certainly something was going on because people were running up and down the stairs. I thought "how cool would it be to be her research assistant" only to find out the job also entailed fixing lunch and walking the dog. I already have that job and don't have to leave home to do it.

I think it is so nice for you that you live where these parts of history occurred, which means that the museums are full of things to see and learn from. I would enjoy that so much! I'd love to live in England for a year just to see it all. My research goes much more quickly, I'm afraid, because it all has to come from books and the internet, though I do appreciate that!

ORANGE COUNTY CALIFORNIA REGISTER

REVIEW BY DEE SWIFT OF DARCY AND FITZWILLIAM

Darcy and Fitzwilliam by Karen Wasylowski

I am not a particularly fanatical Austen fan, certainly not a purist, but I do like the wit of Jane Austen, and so was ready to embrace the tale of Darcy and his cousin with open arms. I was not disappointed. What impressed me most about this book was that it was the feel of Austen, but updated. It is very difficult to be funny in an Austen-esque way and still be fresh. Too often the humour doesn't properly succeed. But the impact that Austen must have had in her day is all here, in this laugh-out-loud romp through Darcy's post wedding adventures, and those of his irrepressible "brother".

I was unprepared for just how funny the book would be. The scene where Lizzie is giving birth, with Amanda's small, curious, stiffly-educated son looking on, is hilarious, and had my husband wondering why I was laughing so much. Even the servants have been wittily expanded, and the book is funny because it is so well-observed. It pokes fun at regency attitudes to women, and gently lampoons the mores and morals of the time. There is also a sense in which the English themselves are satirized, and this is refreshing, but not at all offensive.

After the initial forty or so pages of set-up the book fairly sweeps along with misunderstandings aplenty, and it is no slight volume. The characters have to be impeccably constructed for the situation comedy to work, and Karen Wasylowski has done this thoroughly, also the research on her period and The Peninsula War gives the reader just the right amount of setting.A great read, that works whether you have read any Austen or not.

REVIEWS FOR

DARCY AND FITZWILLIAM

AS SEEN IN BOTH
JANE AUSTEN'S WORLD AND IN
JANE AUSTEN TODAY

February 7, 2011

"It's intoxicating.

It's absorbing.

It's excellent..."

THE CALICO CRITIC

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Karen Wasylowski has done a fine job with these Austenian characters. She has stayed true to the original vision of their temperaments, yet brings new aspects of who they are to light. Their witty repartee is always fun, as they regularly jab at each other in non-cynical brotherly ways. Darcy and the Colonel passionately love their women, sometimes going to extremes to protect them and those they love. There is much drama in this narrative, although it doesn’t cross over into melodrama in the least.

There was more than one night when I had trouble putting the book down to go to bed!Being the men who they are, there are a few moments that are a bit PG-13 as far as language and sexual content. I mention this only for those who are particular about these issues or are considering this for young readers. Most of the bedroom material is within the confines of marriage, and Wasylowski doesn’t go overboard with frequent gratuitous moments of intimacy or colorful tirades.

Thank heavens this isn’t some tawdry bodice-ripper with blue dialog every other minute.

Darcy and Fitzwilliam was an enjoyable read. Karen provides a epilogue that occurs decades after the main story, and I think she could easily draft a sequel in the future. I readily enjoyed her treatment of these characters and hope she continues to revisit this world. Her work is page turning, humorous, maddening (Caroline!!) and touching.

This is a fine edition to the ever-growing library of Austenesque novels. It’s definitely a “bromance” worth an Austen fan’s consideration.

LINDA BANCHE REVIEW

Review: DARCY AND FITZWILLIAM: A TALE OF A GENTLEMAN AND AN OFFICER by Karen V. Wasylowski

Laugh until your sides ache and then laugh some more with Karen V. Wasylowski's delicious Darcy and Fitzwilliam: A Tale of a Gentleman and an Officer. This absorbing, fast-moving romp of a book catalogues the often hilarious ups and downs in the enduring affectionate friendship of those brothers-in-spirit, cousins Fitzwilliam Darcy and Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam.

I read this entire 481 page book in one day, laughing all the way. Ms. Wasylowski has a good ear for realistic male banter, most of it uproariously funny. The best two lines in the whole novel occur when Darcy and Fitzwilliam reminisce about their youth and the hilariously disgusting things young boys do to each other. I still laugh when I think of those lines.A truly wonderful and original take on Pride and Prejudice. I can't wait for Ms. Wasylowski's next book.

JANE AUSTEN EXAMINER

This book was a delight to read. I found the character development of Colonel Fitzwilliam particularly fascinating. Men who have seen war, especially at the grand level Wasylowski has laid out her Fitzwilliam, are hardly ever unaffected. Her portrayal of his issues and struggles are heartfelt and poignant.

It was a little heart-wrenching for me to read about Darcy’s past lover and for Elizabeth to have to deal with the reality of marrying an older man more experienced than her. I was almost angry at the author at first, but I realized what a great job she did of involving me in the storyline. I was fairly sucked in.

HISTORICAL BOOKS REVIEW

Pride and Prejudice has given contemporary writers of historical fiction an endless source of ideas. Many of these novels of possibilities are very good and honor the original classic, while others are wastebasket material. Karen V. Wasylowski has turned out one of the former, a charming and believable rendering that offers the reader a look at the men in Pride and Prejudice. Austen would no doubt welcome Darcy and Fitzwilliam, an amusing and witty interpretation.

SUITE101.C0M Review

Jane Austen Books Get a Dose of Karen V. Wasylowski

Though this is only Karen V. Wasylowski's first book, it is safe to say this author has found her voice in sequels to Jane Austen classics. One of the better additions being Karen V. Wasylowski's wit and humor. I never expected to laugh so hard as I did with Darcy and Fitzwilliam. The storyline was so engaging, the plot so thick with intensity and literary genius that I was immediately roped into the novel and ultimately emotionally invested in its outcome.